Team forfeits game after allowing 116 goals in 3+ games

Globalization of the sport of hockey is something that is desperately needed and that the IIHF has taken big strides on within the last ten years. With that comes the chance for lopsided results as countries begin their hockey programs and that was the case at the 2024 IIHF U18 Asia and Oceania Cup.

This year's tournament expanded to ten teams and was hosted by Uzbekistan, who won the gold medal last year in what was their first ever IIHF event at any level. Along with Uzbekistan, this year's participants included Thailand, Mongolia, Malaysia, Iran, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, India, Macau and Kuwait, who was making their IIHF U18 debut at the tournament.

As mentioned, when nations start up their hockey programs, no matter what level it is, there tends to be plenty of blowouts and that was what happened with Kuwait and ultimately saw them forfeit a game on Saturday after the first period.

On Saturday, Kuwait was facing the hosts and defending gold medalists, Uzbekistan and after the first period, the score was 17 to 0.





Now if you think that's bad, wait until you hear their other results. In their first-ever U18 game on Tuesday, they lost 57-0 to Thailand. They then lost 17-2 to Malaysia and 25-1 to Iran. With Saturday being their final preliminary round match before the placement games begin on Monday, Kuwait wanted to finish strong and hopefully have a chance at pushing for the 7th-place game, rather than the 9th-place contest.

With the loss, Kuwait finished the preliminary round with four defeats and allowed 116 goals in ten periods of hockey, while only score three. The loss also means that they'll be headed for the 9th-place game on Monday where they'll likely face Macau, however, given today's forfeit, it's unclear if Kuwait will show up for the game or if they'll face any discipline from the International Ice Hockey Federation.

For next year's tournament, the IIHF should split it into two groups again, as they did this year, but do it tier-based. Meaning the five teams with the higher IIHF ranking are in Group A, while the five lower ranked teams are in Group B. There still may be the occasional blowout, but having it formatted that way would at least make it a bit more fair and will avoid situations like this year's tournament.